WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Fears of false flag and foreign funded covert operations designed to influence U.S. policy drove the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to launch exhaustive investigations and call for warranted enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). A newly declassified March 17, 1961 memo unsealed and released by the National Archives and Records Administration on October 21, 2010 outlined the Senate's rationale for investigating Israel lobbying groups and other foreign agents active across the United States.

"In recent years there has been an increasing number of incidents involving attempts by foreign governments, or their agents, to influence the conduct of American foreign policy by techniques outside normal diplomatic channels.....there have been occasions when representatives of other governments have been privately accused of engaging in covert activities within the United States and elsewhere, for the purpose of influencing United States Policy (the Lavon Affair)."

The Lavon Affair refers to a false flag Israeli terrorist bombing plot code named "Operation Susannah" against U.S. targets in Egypt. It was designed to reverse U.S. policy pressuring British withdrawals and reverting control of the Suez Canal to Egypt. Israeli agents infiltrating as Arabs were discovered, arrested and criminally prosecuted in Egypt when their explosives malfunctioned, leading to a crisis in the Israeli government.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which mentioned Lavon twice in the three page memo, expressed concerns about investigating such sensitive matters. "There would undoubtedly (even with care) be instances which would lead to foreign governmental protests, to violent attacks by special groups in the United States..." The declassified files are now available at: http://www.irmep.org/ila/forrel

The declassified Senate memo suggested three avenues for investigation. "I. Public receipt of testimony from Department of Justice and Department of State....II. Public receipt of testimony from selected law and public relations firms....III Executive (perhaps public) receipt of testimony on the Lavon Affair, and similar 'grey area' activities..."

The Senate investigated the foreign agents of many countries in 1962, held hearings throughout 1963, and published redacted records. Preliminary findings led the Department of Justice to order the American Zionist Council to register and publicly disclose its Israeli-funded clandestine lobbying activities under FARA. The AZC promptly shut down and reorganized within its lobbying division, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which incorporated six weeks after the AZC FARA order, but refused to register as an Israeli foreign agent.

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the nation's record keeper. It retains 1%-3% of the most important documents of business conducted by the United States Federal government. The Israel Lobby Archive, http://IRmep.org/ila, is a unit of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy in Washington.